Category Archives: The Truth Lies in Rostock

Far-right violence against immigrants has become endemic in parts of Germany and that won’t change anytime soon. The public and the police are too often indifferent to extremism, despite the risk it poses to the country’s reputation. Deep down, Germany still hasn’t grasped that it needs to embrace its minorities…

The exposition focuses on the history of the Holocaust as well as on the current right-wing extremism in Germany. Furthermore it shows initiatives to protect minorities and promote democracy in every day life .

The exhibition also features a picture of “The truth lies in Rostock“. The film was produced in 1993 and is one of the rare documents about the riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen 20 years ago.

“Germany after 1945”, which is designed as a touring exhibition, opens its doors on Tuesday, August 21 in Berlin. Next spring the exhibition can be seen in New York.

Screenings of the documentary “The Truth lies in Rostock” are scheduled for the next few weeks in Germany to remember the pogroms in Rostock-Lichtenhagen 20 years ago.

In August 1992 Neo-Nazis and local people attacked the Central Refugee Shelter, as well as an apartment complex, where Vietnamese contract workers lived . The riot lasted over three days and was the worst mob attack against foreigners in postwar Germany. Stones and petrol bombs were thrown at the apartment block and neighbours applauded when it finally caught fire. The police took hardly any actions to prevent these events. Only a few weeks after the racist attacks the German government abolished the right of asylum.

The Rostocker newspaper “Stadtgespraeche” has already commemorate the upcoming anniversary earlier this year. Thanks to a crowdfunding initative they were able to collect enough money to produce 10,000 free copies of “The Truth lies in Rostock”. At the beginning of August volunteers distributed the DVD to households in Rostock.

The Antifa Saar group are organising a screening of the new German version of the Truth Lies in Rostock on Thursday July 7th as part of a campaign to commemorate the murder of Samuel Yeboah, a refugee from Ghana, in 1991 in the Saarbruecken area. There will also be a talk and discussion about the murder and the lack of an official remembrance.

In Rostock in August 1992 police withdrew while the homes of Vietnamese guest workers were petrol bombed and held under siege by neo-Nazis. In the last month over 100 Roma migrants have been driven from their homes by a series of racist attacks and intimidation. In the last few days the The Observer has reported that several explosives have been discovered that were intended to be used in further racist attacks.

The film The Truth Lies in Rostock (Spectacle 1993) gives an inside account of the events that took place in Germany interviewing anti-fascists, locals, police and neo-Nazis to find out how the siege was allowed to happen. This is vital viewing for all anti-fascists trying to understand events in Northern Ireland.

To order a copy of the The Truth Lies in Rostock and watch the trailer visit our Catalogue page.

To view an edit of Spectacle’s Council of Europe anti-discrimination film please the Project Page